Welcome Author Tara Kingston

Welcome, Tara. I'm delighted to have you visit today to share some of the history behind your new Civil War historical series. It's a fascinating period and dear to my heart.

Hello, Alison,

It’s a pleasure to appear as your blog guest today. I’m excited about the release of the second book in my Civil War Secrets & Spies series, Pistols, Parasols & Passionate Little Lies. To celebrate, I’m offering the first book in the series, Secrets, Spies & Sweet Little Lies as a Kindle free book today (January 23) through Monday, January 27, and I’m here to share the historical inspiration for the heroine and her fellow spies in Pistols, Parasols & Passionate Little Lies. I’ll be giving away a Kindle copy of that book to one lucky commenter.

Set during the months just before the conclusion of the Civil War, Pistols, Parasols & Passionate Little Lies revolves around a pair of Union petticoat spies operating out of Richmond and the men who love them. Led by a cagey matron who passes herself off as crazy as a bedbug, Amanda and Kate use their talents and their beauty to gather intelligence and outsmart the enemy. In Pistols, Parasols & Passionate Little Lies, no-nonsense agent Amanda recruits a dashing Union agent for a desperate mission—break a double agent out of a Confederate prison before he’s executed as a spy.

Pistols, Parasols & Passionate Little Lies was inspired by the stories of petticoat spies operating in both the North and the South during the Civil War. Spymaster Betsy Kincaid was modeled after Elizabeth Van Lew, a Richmond spinster commonly known as Crazy Bet. Daughter of a prominent businessman, she was an ardent abolitionist whose methods were ingenious and varied. She pried men with food, even charming her way past a Confederate prison commander. She funneled information into the prison in baskets equipped with false bottoms and even hollowed out eggs to ferry intelligence to Union generals. Crazy as a fox, she was a loyal and valued part of the Union war effort. Her use of food as an entry ticket to the prison inspired Crazy Betsy Kincaid’s strategy of baking her way into the prison.

Another petticoat spy who worked for the Union in the Confederate South was Pauline Cushman. Born in New Orleans, she moved to Michigan as a child, then took off for New York at eighteen to pursue a career on the stage. She traveled the country in road shows and seized an opportunity to spy on the Confederate troops while she was performing in Kentucky near the start of the war. Through a series of deceptions, she spent time following the Confederate Army, gleaning information from soldiers and serving as a Union Messenger. At one point, she escaped a death sentence for spying when Union Forces invaded the Tennessee town where she was being held. After the war, she wrote a book about her adventures and toured the country with tales of her exploits. When Miss Cushman died in 1893, her gravestone bears an unusual designation: Union Spy.

Of course, the Confederacy employed petticoat spies as well. One of the best known was Rose Greenhow. A popular Washington, D.C. hostess, she flattered secrets out of the nation’s political and military elite. “Rebel Rose” quickly proved her mettle as a spy, utilizing her charm and ingenious methods to ferry information to Confederate generals. Arrest and imprisonment did not curtail her activities, and she became a propaganda tool for the South until her tragic death off the North Carolina coast on her return from a trip to Europe to garner support for the Confederate cause from dignitaries including Queen Victoria. Mrs. Greenhow was buried with full military honors in Wilmington, North Carolina.

I'm Tired of Naked Men

There I've said it. I'm a heretic. I know.

Because I'm a romance writer, and a friend of many other romance writers, my Facebook news feed is filled with photos of naked men day after day. I have no idea if regular people share these pictures at the same rate, but if you're a romance writer you know what I mean. These men are young and lovely, smooth of skin and firm of muscle. How could I possibly get bored looking at them?

The answer is I don't find them interesting, and to be sexy to me a man has to be interesting. These men are so much alike they're virtually interchangeable. If you've seen one waxed, steroid-pumped male model, you've seen them all. It doesn't matter if they're stark naked on the beach or dressed like firemen with their pants barely hanging off their gentleman's parts. One set of perfectly sculpted and unnaturally over-developed abs looks very much like any other. 

I was an art history major in college, and I've spent plenty of time studying nude classical and Renaissance sculptures. Believe me, I understand and appreciate the beauty of the male form. But most of these models' photos have no more warmth and life than Michelangelo's "David". They are beautiful in a detached sort of way, but certainly not sexy. 

What they scream to me is narcissism, and narcissism is the antithesis of sexy. Those bodies do not happen naturally. They require countless hours of hard work and concentration - concentration on one's own appearance. Not sexy. Give me flashing eyes and a wicked smile any day. A man who looks like he knows. 

There are few things sexier than a man who knows what a woman wants, even (or especially) if she doesn't know herself. I never mind postings of photos of interesting men like Colin Firth, Gerard Butler, Johnny Depp, or Hugh Jackman (clothed or unclothed), because it's not their bodies that draw me. I gaze into their eyes and hear their voices in my head, and I'm a goner.

I realize that men have been ogling pictures of naked women forever. Now we have the freedom to do the same, and perhaps a lot of the current trend is a tongue-in-cheek reaction to that. It's fun to be a little naughty. I'm just getting a bit tired of it. Like I'm getting tired of naked male torsos on book covers. I'm glad I've never had one, and now that I design my own covers I never will. There's nothing wrong with them. They signal to the reader that the book is a romance. They just look so much the same. B. O. R. I. N. G.

Go ahead, tell me I'm a dried up, old fogey. I'm a big girl. I can take it.

The Evolution of a Title

Titles are important to me. I've never been able to throw myself into writing a new book until I've come up with a title I love. I'm just not inspired by "WIP" (work in progress). At the beginning of each new story, I brainstorm and tweak until I settle on a title that conveys the right tone. It keeps me true to my original vision and gives me something to write towards. 

The title of my first book, Harvest of Dreams, came easily. I struggled a bit more with the second, A Man Like That, but The Treasure of Como Bluff was really the only choice for my dinosaur-hunter novella. Unwritten Rules was a different story. With it, I was changing sub-genres from Western historical to romantic suspense. I needed something sharper, more contemporary. Also, I was planning a series for the first time and wanted something I could build on for additional titles.

Initially I had planned to call the second book in the Phoenix, Ltd. bodyguard series Boiling Point. In this story, the heroine goes undercover as a personal chef but doesn't know how to cook. As a title Boiling Point is short and punchy (which I like), and connects to the cooking aspect of the plot, but to me it sounds more like a serious thriller than my sassy, romantic version of suspense. So I've been working to come up with something I like better.

I brainstormed a list of thirty possibilities with cooking references: everything from Out of the Frying Pan to Up in Flames. Then, because I learned a few things with Unwritten Rules, I checked Amazon for similar titles. That knocked out many of the more cliched titles. I'm willing to accept a few other books with the same title as mine, but not a few dozen. From there I whittled the list down to five:

Cooking up Trouble
Up in Flames
Fuel to the Flames
Undercover in an Apron
Sauteed, Not Stirred

Then I chose my two favories:

Undercover in an Apron
Sauteed, Not Stirred

I think both suggest sassy suspense. I'm leaning toward one of them but would appreciate any feedback. What do you think? Which is your favorite?

My KDP Select Free Days Results - Part 2

In Monday's post, I gave you the straight skinny on my experience during my recent KDP Select Free Days promotion for my romantic suspense Unwritten Rules. If you missed it or would like a refresher, I suggest you read the post below then come back. Today I'm sharing the numbers you really want to see - the reviews and sales figures - as well as what conclusions I can draw after little more than a week.

I ended my Free Days on a Friday night with 19,651 free downloads, so let's look at what happened over the course of the next week. Keep in mind that when I started the promotion, I had just six reviews for this book. I took all counts first thing in the morning.

Saturday
16 sales, less 3 returns (Fortunately, a friend who had recently gone through this program warned me about the returns. A few people will download the book before realizing it's no longer free and ask for a refund.)
Sunday
24 sales, less 5 returns
24 reviews; 19 5-stars, 4 4-stars, 1 3-star
Monday
31 sales, less 5 returns
27 reviews; 22 5-stars, 4 4-stars, 1 3-star
Tuesday
35 sales, less 5 returns
28 reviews; 23 5-stars, 4-4 stars, 1 3-star
Wednesday (I started to get a bit concerned here)
36 sales, less 5 returns
28 reviews
Thursday (still concerned, but this was Thanksgiving Day)
39 sales, less 5 returns
28 reviews
Friday
44 sales, less 5 returns
31 reviews; 25 5-stars, 5 4-stars, 1 3-star
Saturday
47 sales, less 6 returns
33 reviews; 26 5-stars, 6 4-stars, 1 3-star
Sunday
55 sales, less 6 returns
33 reviews

Also during this time, Amazon Prime members borrowed 4 copies. Since I will receive almost as much per copy from Amazon's special "pool" for these borrows as I do for a sale, I'm allowing myself to add them to the total count.

So, was it worth it? I think so. Fifty-nine sales are not very many compared to almost 20,000 free downloads, but I'm convinced they're 59 sales I probably would not have had otherwise. The most encouraging factor is that momentum still seems to be growing. During the first day and a half of December, I've had another 6 sales and 5 borrows, as well as another 5-star review. 

Now let's talk about reviews. I know many authors say they never read their reviews. I'm not one of them. I always read my reviews. I take great satisfaction in knowing I've delighted or entertained a reader - particularly a stranger - and this free promotion was my first opportunity to reach a significant number of strangers. I've never had more than 5 reviews for any of my previous books, so 34 good reviews tells me I've achieved one of my writing goals - connecting with readers. I pay attention to the elements people say they particularly enjoyed and will use that information when I plan and write my next books. 

One of the most gratifying aspects of these reviews is that many of them obviously come from non-romance readers. When they tell me the pacing and suspense elements worked for them, it means something. I've also received three great reviews from men, which tells me my writing may be even more mainstream than I hoped. Here's my favorite:

"As a guy I never thought I would read a romance novel but my wife had this out and the cover did catch my attention. My taste in fiction is pretty much John Grisham but he does not publish enough for my reading. The book will definitely keep your attention to the last page as one clever and mysterious plot line after another leaves the heroine and her entourage in dangerous and endangered situations. The only thing predictable in the book was the eventual romance. As someone who has lived in Chicago, Texas and the Central Coast I loved the detailed descriptions of these three places. The book alternates between writing from the male and female point of view so when I tired of reading about shopping trips I was quickly taken to the male point of view. I will look for other books by this author. This might make a good movie."

How can I not feel good about a review like that?

I know the numbers so far are minuscule for a successful author, but they're huge for me. None of my small-press published books did this well in such a short period of time, possibly because the publisher wasn't taking advantage of this program at the time. However, I have seen a definite bump in sales of my backlist, even though they are Western historicals rather than contemporary romantic suspense. In the week after my free period, I sold 16 of the older books, including 6 copies of a novella that hadn't sold a single copy since January. 

Although none of this is going to make me rich, it's a validation that I'm doing something right, and sometimes that's all we need to keep going.

My KDP Select Free Days Results - Part 1

When I decided to self-publish Unwritten Rules, one of the first decisions I made was to release it through Amazon's KDP Select program, and the main factor in that decision was the ability to utilize the "Free Days" option. As many of you know, if you grant Amazon exclusive sales rights to your ebook for ninety days, they allow you to offer it free for up to five days. While it may seem counter-intuitive to offer your book free in order to increase sales, that's exactly what many authors have reported, and I wanted to have the option to try it myself. 

Even though Unwritten Rules is my fourth published book, I am still basically an unknown author searching for ways to increase my discoverability--the magic factor that allows complete strangers to discover and purchase your work. I found numerous books on this topic and read several of them as I planned my marketing strategy (such as it is). The authors offered advice on various ways to try to make Amazon's secret algorithms work in your favor. As with most advice, some was useful, and some I discarded. One point that did make sense was that you want your book to appear toward the top of various category lists so more potential readers will see it. That's what this freebie venture is all about.

Since I am an unknown, most (if not all) sales of my book during the first couple of months were to people who know me personally. I did the usual Facebook and blog tour things, and might have picked up an additional sale or two, but I doubt it. By the beginning of November, sales had completely stalled. The week before Thanksgiving, I decided it was time to bring out the big guns--the Free Days. I documented every detail of the experience and intend to share it honestly with you here. I promise not to sugar coat anything or try to make myself sound more successful than I really am.

I chose 11/19 to 11/23 for my free days, uncertain if I would use them all but wanting the flexibility if I needed it. I had a list of sites that advertise free Kindle books and started notifying them about ten days in advance of my promotion. After a couple of days the biggest two, Pixel of Ink and Bookbub, advised me they would not be featuring my book, and I started to worry that I might not get enough exposure to get many downloads. 

These are the sites where my freebie appeared:
http://snicklist.com
http://ereadernewstoday.com
http://bargainbookhunter.com
http://addictedtoebooks.com
http://goodkindles.net
A couple required a minimum number of reviews (4 or 5) with a minimum average rating of 4.0, and that held me up initially. As an unknown, reviews were not exactly pouring in. I had to resort to asking friends and family to post reviews (something I've never done before) in order to get the small number required. As soon as I did, I was ready to go.

During the promotion, I checked my statistics every couple of hours and recorded the pertinent statistics so I could chart my progress and hopefully pull the plug at the most strategic point.
Here's an overview of what happened:
Day 1
11:37 a.m. - 1,766 downloads, #316 in Free Kindle Store, #12 in romantic comedy, #21 in romantic suspense
5:05 p.m. - 5,655 downloads, #83 in Free Kindle Store, #4 in romantic suspense, #5 in romantic comedy
10:30 p.m. - 8,271 downloads, #22 in Free Kindle Store, #1 in romantic comedy, #2 in romantic suspense

Day 2
9:00 a.m. - 9,712 downloads, #16 in Free Kindle Store, #1 in romantic comedy, #2 in romantic suspense
3:00 p.m. - 11,196 downloads, #17 in Free Kindle Store, #1 in romantic comedy, #2 in romantic suspense
9:45 p.m. - 12,928 downloads, #23 in Free Kindle Store, #2 in romantic comedy, #3 in romantic suspense

Day 3
9:00 a.m. - 13,927 downloads, #19 in Free Kindle Store, #2 in romantic comedy, #3 in romantic suspense
3:08 p.m. - 14,954 downloads, #18 in Free Kindle Store, #2 in romantic comedy, #2 in romantic suspense
10:00 p.m. 15,969 downloads, #25 in Free Kindle Store, #3 in romantic suspense, #3 in romantic comedy

At this point, I gave serious thought to halting the promotion (which you can do at any time). The book had dropped off the first page in the Free Kindle Store, and I suspected it might continue to fall. However, it was still performing well in the individual category lists, so I decided to make a final decision in the morning.

Day 4
9:00 a.m. - 17,013 downloads, #21 in Free Kindle Store, #2 in romantic suspense, #3 in romantic comedy
Since the numbers had improved a bit, I decided to continue the freebie but keep a close eye on the trends.
1:40 p.m. - 17,866 downloads, #19 in Free Kindle Store, #1 in romantic suspense, #3 in romantic comedy
6:45 p.m. - 19,023 downloads, #30 in Free Kindle Store, #2 in romantic suspense, #4 in romantic comedy
10:00 p.m. - 19,651 downloads, #31 in Free Kindle Store, #2 in romantic suspense, #4 in romantic comedy

I decided the the KDP Select Free Days had done their job, so I cancelled the promotion. Nearly 20,000 readers had downloaded my book. That's as much discoverability as I could hope for. Now all that remained was to see if it had done any good.

Check back Wednesday for my conclusions and sales figures for the remainder of November.

Cover Reveal - Charlene Raddon's new book Taming Jenna

Please join me in welcoming Charlene Raddon back to The Second Half. Today she's sharing with us the cover for her brand new Western historical romance, Taming Jenna. 

It's gorgeous, Charlene. Congratulations! Please tell us a little about the story.

THE WRONG MAN  

Deserted by her father at the tender age of seven, Jenna Leigh-Whittington had taught herself to ride, shoot, brawl…and steer clear of the opposite sex. But now, in a lonely Utah canyon, the Pinkerton agent has drawn her gun on a rugged stranger—only to discover that, far from the dangerous outlaw she’d been tracking, he is Branch McCauley, hired gun…and the most irresistible rascal ever to tempt and torment a woman!

THE RIGHT WOMAN          

If there’s one thing McCauley trusts less than a female, it’s a female who packs a six-gun. But what a woman! Vowing to bring the sensuous hellcat to heel, McCauley has no inkling that their passionate battle of wills has just begun. Taming Jenna will be the most seductive—and satisfying—job he’s ever taken on.

Don't miss the video for Taming Jenna! http://youtu.be/ejkEtuTUp8c

Charlene will be  holding a drawing for a $30 amazon gift card for all those viewers who visit each stop on her blog tour and leave a comment with contact info. She will also be awarding three copies of her new book to randomly chosen participants. 
Here's her tour schedule:

http://wordwranglers.blogspot.com/ 11^th

http://www.charleneraddon.blogspot.com/ 12th

http://carolineclemmons.blogspot.com 12th

http://elizabethdelisi.blogspot.com/ 12th

http://susanhorsnell.com 12^th

^{http://peggylhenderson.blogspot.com/}

http://writingdreams.net/?p=1360  12th

^{http://katerobbinsauthor.com/  12th}

^{http://sheiladeeth.blogspot.com  12th}

http://alisonhenderson.blogspot.com  12^th

http://vintagevonnie.blogspot.com/ 14th

http://www.patyjager.blogspot.com/ 14th

Charlene Raddon began her fiction career in the third grade when she announced in Show & Tell that a baby sister she never had was killed by a black widow spider. She often penned stories featuring mistreated young girls whose mother accused of crimes her sister had actually committed. Her first serious attempt at writing fiction came in 1980 when she woke up from a vivid dream that compelled her to drag out a portable typewriter and begin writing. She’s been at it ever since. An early love for romance novels and the Wild West led her to choose the historical romance genre but she also writes contemporary romance. At present, she has five books published in paperback by Kensington Books (one under the pseudonym Rachel Summers), and four eBooks published by Tirgearr Publishing. 

Charlene’s awards include: RWA Golden Heart Finalist, Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award Nomination, Affair de Coeur Magazine Reader/Writer Poll for Best Historical of the Year. Her books have won or place in several contests.

Currently, Charlene is working on her next release. You can find her on the web at:

htp://www.charleneraddon.com/

http://www.charleneraddon.blogspot.com/

https://www.facebook.com/CharleneRaddon
http://www.twitter.com/CRaddon

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1232154.Charlene_Raddon

http://www.amazon.com/Charlene-Raddon/e/B000APG1P8/

Thanks for visiting us today, Charlene. Taming Jenna looks like a real winner, not to be missed! 

Have You Hugged Your Husband Today?

Husbands are fragile, especially at our age. I have received several reminders of this fact during the past few weeks. Within days of each other, the husbands of two friends began chemotherapy for advanced cancer. Their families are determined and upbeat, but terrified nonetheless. Then just this week, another friend suddenly lost her husband to a heart attack at age sixty-three. OG is sixty-four and reminds me daily that he's a delicate flower. That was funny when neither of us believed it; it's not so funny now.

The hardest lesson of aging is coming to grips with your own mortality. I think this is especially difficult for men. For the first few decades, they live as if there's no tomorrow, as if they're immortal. When youth and strength begin to fade sometime in mid-life, the process can be slow at first and easily ignored or discredited by excuses, but by sixty it's impossible to deny. That piece of furniture or machinery they once lifted with ease seems to have doubled in weight. They can no longer run that extra mile without gasping for breath. Aches and pains show up with increasing regularity.

I don't know about your husband, but OG is not going gently into that good night. He's resisting with every fiber of his being. As a result, he's racking up injuries that will likely be with him for the rest of his life, and that's hard to accept. Last spring, we bought him a new (very heavy) barbecue. Instead of asking a neighbor or waiting for me to help, he unloaded it from the back of his truck alone and dragged it up the sidewalk to the patio by himself. The result was bilateral rotator cuff tears that have resisted physical therapy and my not be amenable to surgery. Last month, he replaced the glass door in our shower. To get it to fit properly, he had to reduce the width of one of the long, metal pieces with his grinder. He was too angry and impatient to wear hearing protection, despite my pleas, and now he has relentless tinnitus that may never improve. 

I'm frustrated because he refuses to take care of himself, but I understand. It's very hard for a man to admit he's no longer young, strong, and immortal. All I can do is love him and do my best to make the transition to this new phase of life easier and more palatable. It isn't easy and is only likely to get worse. Maybe that's why the stereotype of grumpy old men continues to ring true.

What about you? Have you got any secrets to aging gracefully?